With that out of the way, I’d just like to say that I survived finals and the holidays, and that I’m going to be back up and blogging soon! I’ve been living off of Chinese takeout and running on three hours of sleep per night for the last few weeks, so there was just no way that I would have been able to post. Ack. Dark times, friends. Dark times.

I’m currently in NJ sleeping and eating, and I’ll be back in the city tomorrow. I’m going to splurge on Motorino for New Year Eve, so I may do a post on that or a Ghananian restaurant in the Bronx which I plan on visiting. Stay tuned, and happy holidays!

1. From now through the 20th, posting on the blog will be infrequent. Just a heads-up for those folks who have come here and seen that I haven’t updated in awhile. I haven’t abandoned this site at all. There’s more to come, but unfortunately it’ll have to wait until after exams are over. I have two papers, a presentation, the business plan, and a final exam to deal with.

2. Prof. Penenberg’s class will be over, so there will be no more posts about business plans, blogging, marketing, et. all. The blog will continue (whether you like it or not) as just a food blog and nothing more. Rejoice…or mourn. Whatever works best for you.

See you in a few weeks!

Out front, complete with new awning. (Photo via gprecs.com)

MEAAAAT! MEAT, MEAT, MEAT! Ever since I stopped buying meat to save money on groceries, any sort of eating establishment with the word meat in the title lures me in like a mosquito to one of those mosquito zapping contraptions. I also really like deli sandwiches for some reason, so when I heard that the old school Italian folks at Graham Ave Meats & Deli make a great Italian hero, I knew I had to walk the six or so blocks over from my apartment to check it out.

While it looks like a normal deli on the outside, inside this mom & pop store there are tons of imported Italian goodies to be had, along with a few sandwiches to choose from. Also, for some reason, Lady Gaga is always blasting whenever I go in there. You can take that however you’d like to. What I’m trying to say is that this little gem is a godsend among the plethora of other delis in the area that serve up half-ass Boars Head sandwiches to the masses. For only a few bucks more you can get a work of sandwich art.

I have absolutely no idea why I thought photographing the sandwich this way was a good idea. Pardon me.

The two sandwiches to get are the Willie’s Italian Special ($8) and The Godfather ($7), the latter of which is pictured above. They’re almost identical, with the former having three Italian meats inside, and the latter having two meats and a cheese. My vagueness in describing this sandwich is partially because A) I really don’t remember what was inside (though I spy some salami in that photo) and B) it doesn’t really matter anyways. Whoever is making your sandwich (it’s usually the owner or one of his sons) tends to just throw in whatever they feel like adding that day, so you never get the same sandwich twice.

The one thing that you do get to choose is if you want the sandwich “spicy” or “sweet”. If you get it sweet, you get sweet pickled red peppers and a mild provolone cheese. The spicy rendition adds in some chili-spiked olive oil and swaps out the mild provolone for a smokier version. Since I’m not the biggest fan of spicy food, I always get mine sweet. From what I can gather, no one way is better than the other.

The folks here are true sandwich masters. One of my biggest complaints with most Italian subs is that you tend to just taste an ambiguous “meat” as opposed to the different ingredients. Not so here. Everything is sliced and layered just so, and if it doesn’t knock your socks off then I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with you (and I don’t think we  can be friends anymore). The only problem that I’ve encountered is that occasionally the bread is less than fresh, but for the most part the delicious Italian heroes are soft and pillowy.

One of these can easily make for two meals, though you should probably eat it all in one sitting as the condiments tend to soak into the bread, and no one likes mushy sandwiches. You could also share it with a friend, but who would want to do that. Just eat it all yourself, goddamnit!

Graham Ave Meats & Deli / 445 Graham Ave between Frost & Richardson Sts / Cash Only / (718) 389-9777

Last Thursday we finally pitched our rough drafts to a panel of entrepreneurs in class. As someone who freaks out whenever class presentations are required, I got extremely concerned about the whole thing and worked for about a week putting together what I was going to say. When the time came, I of course felt underprepared and went up there and babbled on and on about what I wanted Food on the Cheap to be in a more sold, finalized form. Surprisingly, the folks on the panel liked the idea a lot and commended me on what I’ve done so far, which made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside.

I’m aiming to make this site more of an aggregator for reviews, using my own original content and content sourced from other websites, that puts everything into an easy to comprehend Google Map. One can then, of course, search what’s near them and go from there. Ideally there would be a mobile app to go along with all of this, and possibly some affiliate marketing deals with restaurants and links to related deals on other sites to attempt to monetize the whole shebang.

Is there anything else that you would add to my site? What? Suggestions are more than welcome and strongly encouraged. Leave them in the comments!

You can usually spot Prosperity Dumpling from afar thanks to the lines which almost always snake out door and down the block.

Prosperity Dumpling and I go way back. Three years ago, when I was a bright, cheerful, and overly zealous freshman at NYU I read about the $1 for 5 dumpling places scattered around Chinatown. Being the stingy individual that I was (and still am), I hauled my ass down to Chinatown as soon as possible, lured by the potential of eating out for under $3 a head. I actually went to Vanessa’s Dumpling House first, which is up the street from Prosperity, but found myself returning to the latter more and more as time went on.

In reality, all of these cheap-o dumpling places aren’t really that different. They serve the same product, and for the most part it all tastes the same to me, give or take varying grease levels and other things that I’ll get into later. What’s so special about Prosperity is that it’s one of the last dumpling shops to offer $1 for 5 pork and chive fried dumplings. Others have resorted as time went on (and popularity increased) to $1 for 4 or even, heaven forbid, $1.25 for 4, but for some reason Prosperity has yet to budge.

If you have trouble finding the restaurant, look for the line of people spilling out onto the sidewalk on Eldridge Street and you’re probably at the right place. Prosperity is a tiny, tiny shop that isn’t very distinguishable among the plethora of Chinese signs that seem to engulf the stretch of stores in which it’s located. I don’t think it could fit more than six people comfortably at one time, though whoever is at the cash register knows what he’s doing. The place is never unbearably crowded, and the wait for food has never been more than five minutes the zillions of times that I’ve went there. Sadly, the lack of seating means you’ll have to take your food to go, but that’s what the park around the corner on Allen St is for. If it’s too cold to sit outside you’re outta luck, but for some reason this food travels really well so there’s no reason to worry. Eating at home is definitely a possibility.

An order of ten chive and pork fried dumplings ($2). Fear not, they're a lot less shiny (and a lot more delicious looking) in real life.

While there are a few different kinds of dumplings on the menu, the pork and chive fried dumplings ($1 for 5) are the ones to get. Unlike a lot of other dumpling places (Vanessa’s, I’m looking at you) which serve dumplings with unnecessarily thick skins and shortchange diners on the fillings, Prosperity seems to have the best skin thickness and adequate innards with a perfect pork  to chive ratio. You get a bit of each in every bite. They’re also not insanely greasy, which means that they won’t sit in your stomach like a lead weight after you plow through a few orders of them. Shocking, I know.

Sesame pancake: it can be yours for a mere $0.75.

Ten or so of these is probably enough to fill up a normal person, but given that I have a second stomach reserved for excess food, I usually grab a plain sesame pancake ($0.75 for 1) too. Often enough you can get a sesame pancake with various fillings, ranging from various meats to a veggie medley, but at Prosperity I usually go for the plainer option. The meat slices and veggies they use tend to not be very fresh. Besides, getting it plain allows you to savor the raw, scallion-studded flavor of this amazing hunk of carbs. If you want the full sandwich experience, Vanessa’s makes a mean roast pork version which I highly recommend.

So, let’s do the math here: $2 (dumplings) + $0.75 (sesame pancake) = $2.75 total. You’re more than satiated for less than $3. I dare you to find a better deal than that.

Prosperity Dumpling / 46 Eldridge St (btwn Canal and Hester Sts) / Cash Only / (212) 343-0683 ‎

Cody, when talking about Foursquare, equated it to what the NY Times Style section does. I can see where he’s coming from with that statement as, like the Style section, Foursquare gives people advice as to what dishes are best at a restaurant or what clothing is worth taking a gander at, though I don’t think they’re exactly similar. Foursquare’s new “tips” tab, in which you can recommend something to do at a certain spot, functions in a similar manner, but doesn’t really allow you to say too much. You might see that such and such dish is a good one, but who are you more likely to trust in that sort of situation: a stranger on Foursquare or the dining critic at the Times? I think the latter.

A more obvious yet, in my eyes, appropriate comparison would be equating Foursquare as one step ahead of Yelp. They do offer similar situations, and Yelp itself has a similar subsection to Foursquare in which you can check in places and become “mayor.” I just can’t connect these little one sentence recommendations with a several paragraph Yelp review or a detailed review by the Times of a new restaurant. I can draw the comparisons, but they just aren’t equal in my eyes. Perhaps I’m just old fashioned.

What do you think? Is Foursquare the new Style section? Discuss!

First off, I really hate speaking in front of people. If you know me in real life, I’m one of the most socially awkward people ever. I recently had to pitch an idea for something for a blog I write for to a business owner, and I started coughing uncontrollably for no apparent reason in the middle of it. Needless to say, the guy probably thought I was totally nuts, but that’s besides the point. That’s what I’m most worried about. I’d like to escape this whole thing without making an ass of myself. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Secondly, dang that business plan is long! As I mentioned in another post about them, a typical business plan runs around 26 pages. The template I’m using is about that long, though the entire thing is broken up into about seven or eight pieces with many, many subsections. It’s not as much the length that concerns me as attempting to be concise. I have a horrible tendency to ramble on and on about everything when writing, and I’ve always struggled to chop out the unnecessary language. We’ll see what happens.

We’re having an exciting panel tomorrow with a bunch of people, so expect another post about that on Friday.

Shanghai Tide from the outside. Moderately less chaotic, much less meat.

I turned 21 towards the end of October, and figured that since I hadn’t had a birthday party since I was in elementary school that I should do something big for this booze-filled milestone in my life. I’d been wanting to try hot pot for awhile, especially after I found Shanghai Tide, an all-you-can-eat place in Flushing. However, the cost and the distance scared me away…until now.

$26, an amount of cash that makes my cheap self cry hysterically, gets you unlimited things to dump into your hot pot (meats and veggies galore), dim sum (soup dumplings, noodles, etc.), and drinks (soda or Budweiser). All things considered it’s a steal for what you end up getting but it’s still a pretty hefty chunk of change.

For those who are unfamiliar with what hot pot is, it’s a communal style of dining that’s popular in many Asian countries. Each area seems to have its own take on it, though I’m not entirely sure which this restaurant specializes in considering that Shanghainese hot pot doesn’t exist (at least to my knowledge). You’re presented with large bowls of broth that are put on top of a small burner on your table. Usually you have the option of normal (“non-spicy”) or spicy (“spicy”) broths, though most people go half and half. The normal broth has a slight lemon-y herb taste to it, while the spicy broth is Sichuan style with tons of chili flakes and peppercorns. My wimpy self stuck to the non-spicy broth, though everyone else in my party seemed to love the spicy one more. Oh to not be overly sensitive to spicy foods.

After that’s all taken care of, it’s time to order what things you want to eat. To avoid rattling off all of the many, maaaany options that we had to choose from, I give you the menu:

The hot pot menu. Highlights include "luncheon meat" and MORE MEATS.

Crazy, yes? We ordered at least sixteen different things and somehow polished them all off. And then we ordered some more. The cuts of meat weren’t particularly fatty or “stank”, and the myriad of veggies were a great alternative to all of other unhealthy crap we consumed over this evening of overeating. The dim sum was excellent as well, especially the soup dumplings. I’d never had them before, but now I agree with pretty much everyone else: stuff is addictive. The dumplings were full of a great pork fat-filled broth, and while the skin itself was a bit too thick for my liking, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t eat at least ten or so. No shame, no shame.

The soup dumplings were delicious, with a delicious pork-y broth and skins that were tasty if a bit thick.

To cook your food, you basically throw it into the pot and swish it around until it’s done. Not too hard. You also get the opportunity to mix and match various sauces to dip everything in, which adds a whole other level of fun to the mix. Shanghai Tide had an entire sauce mixing station, which I assume is normal at most hot pot places. There were some of the usual sauces such as oyster and soy available, but there was also straight up MSG. Yikes. We played around with the more normal-sounding sauces and made up some pretty satisfying combinations which I have since forgotten. Oh well. It’ll come to me…eventually…maybe by the end of this post.

After two rounds of numerous (read: too many) platters food and at least three beers or so each, we were done. The ten of us then sat around and groaned for about thirty minutes before making our way back to the 7 train to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and other parts of Queens, respectively. While it certainly is expensive, this kind of extravagance makes for a perfect special occasion meal where a bit of a splurge isn’t as horrible as it might be otherwise. As long as you have adventurous friends and multiple stomachs to hold all the food you’ll end up shoveling into your mouth with reckless abandon, Shanghai Tide offers an insane dining experience like no other. To wrap things up, here’s a before and during/after shot of our table. The foooood, the foooood.

The calm before the storm.

Not even half of what we ate.

NOTE: The lovely Robyn Lee of The Girl Who Ate Everything joined me on this adventure and took much more detailed (and prettier) pictures than I. Once they go up on her Flickr, which I assume they will at some point, I’ll post a link here to give you a better idea of the sheer volume of food we ate. My pics don’t really do it justice. (UPDATE: THEY’RE UP! Check ‘em out here.)

Shanghai Tide / 13520 40th Rd (at Prince St), Flushing, NY / Cash Only / (718) 661-0900

Here’s some of what Peretti says you need to understand to tap into your content’s viral potential:

1. The Bored at Work Network

Also known as everyone bored and surfing the web, emailing, tweeting, or Facebooking while at work, in class, or anything of that sort. They’re one of the biggest chunks of your potential audience, and the key to developing viral content is to make it so it’s not only easy to understand and share, but also so it has a social imperative. You want these people to see your content and immediately know who they want to share it with.

2. Acknowledge that not everything has the potential to go viral

Not everything has the potential to go viral. This is especially true of more serious content, as it seems as if folks are more likely to circulate something that entertains them. To be fair, however, one never knows in advance how viral something is, so it’s really up to chance. Chances are you’ll increase your success potential by trying lots of different things and going with what works best.

3. The Mullet Strategy

As Peretti stated, “mullets are business up front and party in the back.” He couldn’t be more right. In terms of site strategy with this method, it’s best to have the viral (or serious) content up front, and then leave the rest of your site open for experimentation.

4. Crazy Folks

It’s true, the internet is dominated by total wackos who, fortunately or unfortunately, have a lot to say. Tailoring your potentially viral content to what sets these people off is a great way to get something to go viral. Chances are if it upsets or entices them they’re going to send it to other people they know, and they’ll send it to other people and yadda yadda yadda.

Pretty simple, yes? How do you feel about it? Is there anything you would add?